14. Try Arkansas

The Lord had given Byron two distinct visions. One was of a group of spirit-filled Christians ministering in a town where the culture was failing; the Bristols had fulfilled this mission with their Gainesville community. The second vision was of a place in the country where they could have an agricultural community and could concentrate on becoming self-sufficient and prepared for hard times. The latter vision was confirmed by a total stranger who saw the name "Byron Bristol" appear before him and went to visit him in Gainesville. While there, the stranger was suddenly given a word from the Lord and he described, in great detail, a large, self-sufficient farm for the Bristols. Prophesies came from many different sources, and they were all telling the Bristols that it was time to move on.
 
However, this proved difficult. Prices were soaring in northern Florida and Byron soon became discouraged. He had done everything he could and finally called out to God. The Lord replied, "Try Arkansas." Byron had never been to Arkansas before, and had heard very few good things about it. Esther had grown up in Earle, Arkansas, and the memories of her family's hard time there still stuck with her. She most certainly didn't fancy returning. Byron's own first reaction was, "You must be kidding, who wants to go to Arkansas?"
 
But then the Bristols began to see a small part of God's great vision for their lives. Byron picked up an encyclopedia and started reading about Arkansas. He was greatly encouraged to learn that more than half of the population of the United States is within a two-day driving radius of the state. When he told the community about his vision, they called a day of prayer and fasting. Two couples, Gex (pronounced 'Jay') and Judy Williams and John and Vicky Shelton, felt the call of God to go with the Bristols to Arkansas. Byron and Esther followed God's leading by taking vacations to Arkansas with some of the Gainesville group to see what land was available.

The Bristols gradually worked their way up into Northwest Arkansas near the city of Fayetteville, where they received confirmation that this was the area the Lord was leading them to. It was a college town much like Gainesville, home of the University of Arkansas (U of A). The Sheltons moved into a cottage near the U of A, and Gex and Judy joined the Bristols in their search for a farm.
 

In the fall of 1983 they found a beautiful farm near Winslow, Arkansas that was exactly what they wanted. Esther had found an article advertising it for rent months ago, and even though it seemed a far-off chance that it was still for rent, they called and met the owner. Amazingly, it had rented, the renters hadn't worked out, and the add was going to be run again almost immediately. The Bristols and Williams were thrilled at this blessing. Another miracle: the owner, Dr. Majilton, had known Judy's father back in Florida and promised Judy that he would do anything to help her and her family if they decided to rent from him! That made the decision easy enough.
 

The next January Gex and Judy moved to the farm with their two young boys, David and Mark. The Bristols joined them a few months later. They took full advantage of the large farm with the canning kitchen, root cellar, lovely garden, and huge asparagus patch.
 
Renting the farm wasn't enough, though. After he and Esther had lived at the farm about a year, Byron felt led to approach Dr. Majilton about selling them the farm. But he was not interested.

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So, it was time to go looking again, and this time they found the place God had been leading them to. Byron saw an ad in the Star Shopper for a promising health resort being sold 65 miles away in the small town of Sulphur Springs. The price of $150,000 was way out of their financial range, but they decided that there was no harm in looking. However, the owners were out of town and then the Bristols went away from two weeks, so considerable time elapsed before Byron and Gex finally went to see the place. Esther later wrote, “We realize now that the hand of the Lord was on this delay because of the many miraculous events that had to transpire to cause the price to be so drastically reduced.”

Byron was overwhelmed by what was then the Philadelphia Health Center. It had everything that he had been looking for. The owner of the place, Dr. Busby, told Byron that he would be willing to take as little as $100,000 if he was paid in cash since he was in a difficult financial situation at the time. Byron, Esther, Gex, and Judy toured the buildings. There was a main lodge, an annex and bath house with 18 bedrooms, furnished and ready for guests, a 22x16 ft. furnished living and dining room, a hotel sized equipped kitchen and on and on to the outbuildings, barn, shop, greenhouse, etc.. Not to mention the six acre lake surrounded by wooded hills.

However, the Bristols and Williams couldn’t come into unity about a decision. They decided not to purchase the property; but God had other plans in mind. Mrs. Busby called them a little later and asked if the price was the problem. Even after being told that it was  a very reasonable price, Mrs. Busby insisted that she and her husband would sell it to the Bristols for $75,000. It just might have been a coincidence that $75,000 was the sale price of a house the Bristols had sold back in Gainesville, but then it could be the Lord. After fasting and praying, they decided that this was indeed the place that they had been looking for.

It was quite an ordeal moving into Harbor House. The decision was made that the Williams family would move into the main house, a three story affair with eleven bedrooms, and the Bristols would live in a house trailer until Byron finished remodeling one of the smaller houses on the property.

In the early days Esther wrote, “We…have long-term, mid-term, and daily vision for Harbor House and properties, but we shall…wait upon the Lord for clarification of his purposes. In the meantime we shall continue to restore, repair, beautify and prepare for whatever lies ahead.” Sometimes those ‘purposes’ were anything but clear. After a year and a half of living there, Gex and Judy felt that it was the Lord’s will that they move on from Harbor House. John and Vicky Shelton left Fayetteville for Florida, and this left the Bristols at Harbor House, no doubt wondering exactly what God had in mind. But things would soon begin to happen.

Byron and Esther met Warren and Mary Clough, a local couple, who introduced them to their friend, Rosemary Thorne. Rosemary was suffering from cancer and was trying to get better through natural remedies and supplements; unfortunately, this took most of her money. The Bristols were more than happy to let her live with them in Harbor House, and this was the beginning of the little community that would grow up around Harbor House.

There were times when Byron and Esther wondered if they ought to leave Sulphur Springs. One winter they caught a very bad case of the flu and were miserable for weeks, trying to stay warm in that big house. They thought about selling it and even had a man who offered to pay cash for the whole place, but when they prayed about it the Bristols didn’t feel that the Lord was leading them away. So they stayed.

The Bristols had made a commitment that if God ever brought someone to their doorstep asking for help, they would never turn away from them—and He certainly sent many people their way! Several young women from Europe who were friends of Norma’s came to live there for several months, and many families moved into the various small houses built around the property. The Sulphur Springs community was unlike the one in Gainesville in that people came through the doors and out of them and rarely lived on the property for long, but Harbor House became a landmark in town, a place where people could flock to hear the word and feel the love of Christ.